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What Can Be Done?Work together to lessen hardship After listening to the views of the poor and understanding the nature of hardship, what can be done to address it? Working together with those facing hardship to plan, prioritize, and implement solutions has a good chance of leading to successful, lasting initiatives. During the assessment, people described current initiatives, their perception of their role and the roles of others in development, how they cope with hardship, and most importantly, their priorities and suggestions for future action. Current Initiatives to Address Hardship
Most of the communities surveyed, particularly in the rural areas and outer islands, have found ways to improve their standard of living and cope with the hardship and poverty experienced by individuals, families, and their community as a whole. These initiatives can be classified into three categories: (i) income generation, such as fundraising and seafood harvesting; (ii) basic services, such as building community water tanks, flush toilets in households, and community power projects; and (iii) skills development, such as handicraft and small business skills. These demonstrate communities’ ability to work together as a single unit and with government as active partners, not just beneficiaries. Some community members were aware of government initiatives to help address causes of community hardship and poverty, including youth and women’s programs, the Village Improvement Scheme, Healthy Islands Project, social welfare, and the Poverty Alleviation Fund. Some of these initiatives, although intended to be high impact, have since stopped. Community members stressed that continuation of these initiatives is required to ensure longterm benefits to effectively address hardship and poverty. Communities have found ways to cope A few nongovernment initiatives, including Red Cross disaster relief, the Kana Project, and Save the Children Fund, were mentioned by the communities surveyed. The community members were also aware of some projects initiated by international organizations in the areas of micro-finance, health, water, sanitation, and other services. However, about 40% of the communities were not aware of any poverty alleviation initiative led either by government or nongovernment organizations. It is useful to consider the community initiatives listed above and how programs organized by government and nongovernment organizations are perceived to improve the effectiveness of future development programs. RolesCommunities should be actively involved in implementing development programs to help improve and sustain their benefits. The communities consulted during the assessment had a clear understanding of their role and those of others in development. They said they would be willing to contribute by providing free labor, land, food, timber, and cash to support government community development programs. Communities expect the government to provide expertise, financial support, market outlets, materials and equipment, skills training, basic services, land for resettlement, and regular visits by government officials to their communities. They viewed the role of nongovernment organizations to be funding community projects and providing technology and agricultural advice and skills training. Lastly, the perception of international organizations’ role is to provide financial assistance, technology, advice, and training. Rural and urban communities have developed coping strategies through the years in response to poor service delivery, such as working as a community, utilizing family networks, and depending on their environment for water. During crises, most communities depended on family, church, traditional clan, district and/or provincial council, and community women and youth groups for support. Supporting the above mentioned activities and groups will help communities become strong partners in development and poverty reduction. Other groups, such as district and provincial government officials as well as Members of Parliament (MPs), were seen as far less important. However, some communities, such as the Indo- Fijians, relied on them for support.
People’s PrioritiesIncome, public services, and traditions were priorities During the assessment, the communities suggested several priority actions to address hardship and poverty, which can be classified according to the following major categories:
Other community priorities included acquiring leadership, business management, and parenting skills. These priorities validated the key themes of the government’s Strategic Development Plan (SDP) for 2003-2005. Specific SDP strategies that support the identified community priorities include
Communities identified the following areas for capacity building (ranked according to importance) to improve their ability to actively participate in development and poverty reduction activities:
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